


Vagrants' Story

by Piinutbutter



Category: Final Fantasy XII
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 05:56:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19717579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Piinutbutter/pseuds/Piinutbutter
Summary: Gabranth makes an impulsive, selfish, and foolish decision that irreparably alters the course of the youngest Solidor's life. To his lasting surprise, Larsa couldn't be happier about it.





	Vagrants' Story

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Welsper](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Welsper/gifts).



> Even though it was a liiittle against the spirit of this exchange, I did some snooping and found your prompts for these two very inspiring. :D

It was a familiar scene in the streets of any town under Archadia’s thumb: Three starving orphans making off with two loaves of stolen bread to sustain themselves, and one low-ranking imperial guard taking the opportunity to throw his weight around.

“Let them go!” Finia yelled, her small fists beating at heavy armor. When that didn’t make the guard take his hands off her friends, she kicked at his shins.

“Insolent brat,” the guard snapped. A gloved hand backhanded her across the face, sending her sprawling on the filthy pavement. She heard a gasp, and a moment later Kynel was at her side, trying to shield her with his body. The guard must have released the boy’s arm in order to strike her.

Finia grimaced, half of her whole face sore. Were it just the two of them, she and Kynel could have taken this opportunity to run. Their speed, small size, and knowledge of the twisting alleys and hidden passages were some of the only advantages they had over the imperials. But Min was still shaking in the guard’s grip, staring up at him in terror.

For all their little gang had daydreamed of being master thieves, they’d never actually gotten caught until now. The guards who they’d teased and tossed garbage at only days ago were a lot more frightening when they were actually trying to apprehend them.

Min was both the youngest and the smallest of their group. He wouldn’t survive in the dungeons. They couldn’t leave him.

“I beg your pardon. I’m not interrupting anything of importance, am I?”

The strange voice had both the guard and his would-be prisoners looking towards the mouth of a nearby alleyway. A boy - older than Finia, but not yet a man - emerged from the shadows. He was dressed too nicely for the average resident in their poverty-stricken corner of town, but he didn’t wear any of the hallmarks of nobility. A dark hat was settled on top of darker hair, which was pulled into a braid. It was the leather belt at his waist - functional, with a knife, a sword, and numerous pockets for stowing away treasure - that sealed the image: _Sky pirate._

The guard wasn’t as awestruck as Finia. “If you know what’s good for you, kid, you won’t be interrupting anything no more. Scram.”

The boy crossed his arms, walking forward undeterred. “I don’t wish to do so. It appears as though I have business here.” He knelt down by Finia and Kynel, offering her his hand and him a smile. “I’m Lamont,” he told them. “You should go to a safe place. I’ll bring your friend to you - unharmed.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” the guard said, stepping closer to them. Kynel flinched, pulling Finia closer to him.

“I do,” Lamont replied. He stood and turned to the guard, who still had a death grip on Min’s skinny arm. Lamont drew the slim knife from his belt. In the same smooth motion, he slashed it in the air, just close enough to the guard’s free hand to draw a scratch on his knuckles. A tiny, inconsequential wound, but it had the guard releasing Min and jolting into an offensive stance.

Lamont grinned. The children looked among one another, confused at how this development could be a good thing for any of them. The guards were unnecessarily harsh as it was. To anger one deliberately...

“Who is more deserving of your punishment, good sir?” the older boy said, opening his palms in a gesture of invitation. “The children stealing a measly serving of bread to survive, or the brazen scoundrel who just accosted an imperial guard, unprovoked?”

The guard’s answer was clear when he lowered the face plate of his helmet and began stalking towards the boy.

In response, Lamont tipped his hat, turned on his heel, and called, “Catch me if you can.”

The chase - as much as it could be called one - only lasted long enough for the guard to follow the boy down the same alley he’d emerged from. Just before Lamont reached a sharp curve in the passage, the guard pinned him to the wall. A scuffle ensued.

“Unhand me!” Lamont cried out, his voice echoing loud in the cavernous streets.

“Not a chance, you little shit,” the guard grunted.

Finia pushed Kynel away and scrambled to her feet, both wanting to help and knowing that she wasn’t strong enough to do so. Her eyes widened when a tall, shadowy figure stepped out from around the curve of the alley, a wicked-looking sword in his hand. Another guard, from the looks of it. Finia’s heart sank.

“Lamont!” she shouted. “Watch out!”

The newcomer descended upon Lamont and the guard. To everyone’s shock, instead of apprehending Lamont, the man tore the guard away from the boy, yanked his helmet off, and wrestled him to the ground. All was silent once the guard had the point of a sword at his neck.

“This boy,” the strange man said in a voice that was low, but clear as day, “is under my protection.”

“And by extension,” Lamont piped up, stepping fearlessly to the man’s side, “so are any citizens I take a liking to. I admit, there’s a soft spot inside me for the children whom men like you enjoy picking on.”

“So I would suggest you be careful where you throw your weight around,” the strange man said. The point of the sword pressed the slightest bit harder on the guard’s neck. “Understood?”

“Understood,” the guard growled from between clenched teeth. From the furious look on his face, the answer he truly wanted to give was much more vulgar.

The strange man said, “Then we’ll be taking our leave.”

Lamont said, “And we will be taking this.” He crouched down and grabbed the offending loaves of bread from the pockets of the guard’s cloak, daring him to interfere. He didn’t.

The children watched in cautious awe as the guard stormed away and Lamont returned to them. Seeing their confusion, Lamont gestured to the looming man who still held his sword at the ready.

“Noel is with me. He may look frightening, but he is a good man.”

“Th-thank you!” Min exclaimed, clutching the bread he’d been reunited with to his chest.

Lamont gave them a wink. The movement was awkward, like he wasn’t quite used to doing it yet. “’Tis nothing more than our duty. Please, let us know if the imperials give you any further trouble.”

“We will,” Finia promised, stepping close to him. As the leader of their gang, she was obligated to ask: “Um, hey! You guys are sky pirates, right?”

“That we are.”

“We are too!” she said. “Well, I mean, we will be. Soon. We don’t have an airship yet. Could we join your crew?”

Lamont’s eyes widened at the bold request. He was silent for a moment, then looked back towards Noel, who shook his head in disapproval. Finia thought she heard a small laugh from Lamont as he turned back to her.

“I don’t think you’re ready for that yet, my lady. But keep your wits about you and I’m certain you and your friends will be the terror of the skies in a few years.”

With that, he and his mysterious, imposing companion disappeared into the winding streets.

* * *

The first thing Noah said when he returned to their inn was, “I hope you’re not thinking of taking on a child. You still are one.”

Larsa laughed. Noah loved the sound of his laughter. He heard it so often these days. “Even with all I’ve grown?”

It was true that Larsa had matured a fair bit in the few years since they’d abandoned Archadia. Mentally, Larsa had always been far too wise and hardened for his age, but he now had more experience outside of a palace; and a taller, broader body to complement it. The little prince was becoming a beautiful young man.

“You don’t have to worry,” Larsa continued. “I have no illusions that it would be a good plan to take on any additional responsibilities at this point. Now come here and let me help you with that.”

As ‘Gabranth’ was now presumed as dead as his brother, it made little sense for Noah to walk around in armor fit for a Judge. Instead, he wore lighter mail that still offered protection. It was just as annoying to take on and off as any other armor, though. He offered no resistance as Larsa helped him undo the trickier clasps and ties. Once, he had; he’d protested vigorously how improper it was for a royal to do a servant’s duty for his knight.

“And I am no longer a royal,” Larsa had pointed out, his hands unmoving from Noah’s shoulders. “Besides, if you are my knight, shouldn’t I be able to do as I wish to you?”

Noah did not want to admit how those words had made him feel.

There were many things he'd never wanted to admit, when it came to Larsa. Things he never would have had to admit, if life in Archadia hadn’t panned out the way it did. He would have been happy to stand silently at Larsa’s side, protecting him as he fell into his role as a fair and just leader - protecting him as he dared to challenge Vayne’s own ill-gotten authority.

But one morning, instead of the usual niceties, Larsa greeted his guard with, “I’m meeting my spouse tomorrow.”

Gabranth was glad he wasn’t carrying anything at the moment. He surely would have dropped it.

“Your...spouse?” Surely he’d misheard.

“Unbeknownst to me, the senate has decided to play matchmaker. I suspect my brother may have played a hand in this whim of theirs.” Larsa leaned on the rail of the balcony they were resting on. Gods, he looked so small.

“I can’t say I understand, Lord Larsa,” Gabranth said slowly. “What does the senate have to gain from marrying you off?”

Even as the words left his mouth, he had a hunch about the answer. Larsa confirmed his suspicions. “If Vayne wants to solidify his place on the throne, this is a better alternative than slaughtering me outright, don’t you think?” A small, bitter smile graced his lips. “Moreover, if his younger brother just happens to be assassinated whilst in a political marriage with another empire...what better excuse for war?”

There was silence for a long minute. Wind tugged gently at Larsa’s hair. It occurred to Gabranth that if the boy kept growing it out, he’d look just like Vayne. The thought turned his stomach.

“You’re far too young,” was the flimsy reply that finally came from Gabranth. “It’s inappropriate.”

The words were aimed at himself as much as they were the rest of Archadian nobility. Gabranth knew damned well the things he sometimes caught himself thinking and feeling about Larsa. But unlike the senators who were shipping off a mere child to be wed, Gabranth would never act on those feelings. Couldn’t fathom doing so. Hated the fact that he even needed to consider the thought.

Hated the fact that, before the sun had risen the next morning, he had officially kidnapped a Solidor.

“I don’t expect you to forgive me,” Gabranth said as he herded Larsa into a ‘borrowed’ imperial airship. It was a small one. It wouldn’t be missed from the fleet. “I cannot...I’ve sworn to protect you, and my conscience will not allow me to see you-”

“It’s alright, you know,” Larsa interrupted him, prying Gabranth’s arm from his shoulder and settling happily into the passenger side of the cockpit of his own volition. “To be fully honest with you, I would have been disappointed had you stood by and done nothing.” He smiled. It was an honest, open grin; an expression that Larsa rarely had occasion to wear. A shame, considering the easy life which boys his age were supposed to be living.

Gabranth swallowed past a lump of confusion in his throat. “Truly?”

“Well, I must admit I didn’t expect your plan to be quite so dramatic. But I have no objections.” Larsa turned towards Gabranth as the now-former Judge climbed into the pilot’s seat beside him. He held out his wrists pressed together, as if inviting Gabranth to cuff them. “Take me as your hostage, oh fearsome pirate. I am at your mercy.”

Gods. This boy was going to be the death of him.

* * *

They’d made an interesting little life for themselves, that was certain. Their disappearance didn’t cause nearly as much chaos as Noah was expecting.

“Goes to show how much my family cares for me,” Larsa had said once. Even when Noah could see the pain in his eyes, the boy’s words were soft-spoken and mature. It would be several months before Larsa would learn to loosen up a little. He no longer had to be a candidate for emperor. He could be himself.

Of course, that was easier said than done. Archadia had a way of stripping away one’s sense of self. Noah’s had started to slip away the moment he wore his brother’s face. Larsa's was never allowed to bloom in the first place.

The sky pirate development was something that seemed to happen without discussion or conscious thought. They were on the run. They had an airship, a modest sum of money Noah had taken with him, and a bone to pick with Archadian authority. It was only natural.

The fashion choices, however, had been deliberate. Larsa had considered cutting his hair at first, but conceded to a braid when Noah had sheepishly protested that he liked his hair the way it was. Noah had let his own hair grow out, and he’d been considering buying a pair of pointless glasses, but frankly, his own face wasn’t nearly as recognizable.

On the bright side, Larsa seemed very pleased with his guard’s new hairstyle. Back at the inn, after he’d pulled off the layers of Noah’s armor, he buried his hands the long blond curls.

“You look magnificent, you know.”

Noah’s face warmed. “I look like a vagrant.”

Larsa buried his face in Noah’s chest. “That’s what we are now, isn’t it?”

His knight was too easy to read. Before Noah could even say anything, Larsa felt his uncertainty in the stiffness of his muscles and the hesitant hand he laid on Larsa’s head.

“And I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Larsa added to reassure him.

It was true that the life of two amateur sky pirates wasn’t filled with as many luxuries as a palace. There had been many things to adjust to. Many things Larsa still had to learn about life among the common crowd. But there was one important thing Larsa had now that he’d never truly had in his life: Freedom.

“Think about it,” Larsa said, stepping back and looking up at his guardian. “Back home, I would never have been able to do this.”

Even after his growth spurt, Larsa still had to raise himself onto his toes to kiss Noah on the lips. It was worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> Full disclosure: I haven't played FFXII since...uh...FFXIII came out, so my apologies if I failed miserably at character voices. ^^;


End file.
